About Us
Details about Khalsa Aid
Khalsa Aid is an international non-profit aid and relief organization, registered in the UK as a charity under the UK Charity Commission. Khalsa Aid's volunteers have provided relief aid to victims of humanitarian crises in Albania / Kosovo, Orissa (East India), Turkey, Gujarat (West India), Afghanistan, The Democratic Republic of Congo and
recently Somalia (this is an ongoing development programme). Khalsa Aid's current project centres on providing relief assistance to victims of the devastating tsunami that occured on December 26, 2004. For further information on our projects, please feel free to contact us.
The Community is the World
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Khalsa Aid was not set up as a result of careful planning over a period of months or years. It was formed in 1999 at the time of the Kosovo crisis and represented a very spontaneous response to that particular situation.
In 1999 the Sikh community celebrated the 300th anniversary of the foundation of the Khalsa. The distinctive image of a Sikh means that we can always recognise one another and be recognised as Sikhs by other people. Wherever we go, we cannot hide ourselves but have to stand up and be counted: to be seen to be on the side of justice, to feed the poor and most of all, to feel the pain of other people. When you know that there are struggles and difficulties in other parts of the world, maybe in the household next door to you, maybe within your own family, then either you can live and sleep peacefully or you know that you must do something about it. In the family, whether my brother or mother or my sister is suffering then I cannot be unaware of this. But if we look at the whole of humanity as a large family then we have to be aware of ways in which all other people are suffering. It was this approach which inspired young people in the Sikh community in 1999 to do something about the Kosovo crisis."
Taking Initiative
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In 1999 five or six of us got together, concerned about what
was going on in Kosovo. At that time, there were a lot of street
processions in the Sikh community all over the country to
celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Khalsa....If you have
ever been to a Sikh procession you will know that there is food
in abundance at them, given away freely by Sikh families as a
gift from their heart.... 'Vand Chhakna' is what we Sikhs call
it: sharing what we have. This does not just mean food. I may
need to lend you my coat if it is raining and you do not have
one. So, those of us who got together thought about the way
there was so much food available at these Sikh events and
within the Sikh gurdwaras where there is a tradition of a
'langar' or a community kitchen where anyone, no matter
who, can come in and eat.Why did we not offer food to those
who really needed it? Which at that time was in Kosovo. None
of us had ever done anything like this before. We made an
appeal to the Sikh community in particular, asking them to
give generously on the basis that this was what the community
should do....No one turned us away or said that they would
not help because the appeal was for people who were not
from the Sikh community itself....We raised at that time
between £20,000 and £25,000 in ten days in Southall and
Slough alone. This experience was an inspiration for us. Our
religious traditions can inspire us in this way.
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